Auto focusing point vs centre focusing point.


rocketatw

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2010
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I use to shoot with my 7D using centre focusing point as auto focusing point sometimes does not focus on the subject which i want, have to keep half press a few times until i got my subject on focus.

I want to maximise the potential of 7D since it has so many focusing point. But when is the right situation to use.

Just curious, in what situation do you use auto focusing point? example in landscape, Protrait, Flying birds etc.
 

in my case never. its either center or i manually choose point to use.

camera cannot read your mind so have no idea what you intend to focus on.
 

For my case, I usually use auto focus when i shoot landscape or architecture. Anything else i choose my focus point and take shots.

When it comes to portraits and flying birds, using auto focus is a very big hassle. Most of the time, the camera will choose to focus the wrong points...
 

Sometimes you have no time to switch AF points. There is no one solution. You really have to learn how to maximize the capabilities of your camera. And you need to know how your camera works well and adapt to the situation to get what you need.
 

i switch focus points manually.
 

I would say choosing focus points is useful for studio setups with tripod.

On normal day to day shooting I use center focus and recompose.
 

Your cam should able to relocate the focus pt to the subject and locked it, this will speed up the cam focusing. Unless it moving subject, then your speed of framing and even continue firing shots may help...
 

Not using all focus points does not mean you waste something (or even money). Learn how to use it, learn when to use which function. You cannot maximize the potential of a camera (Canon has defined this already with the technical specs), but you can learn how to use it get the results that you want or need.
 

Sorry to dig up this thread but this is the question I'm having right now..If you are gonna shoot people in a group..do you choose the auto AF points mode (in my case 9 points) or select centre focus and aim off one person in the group and shoot?

If the people in the group is not of equi-distance..even on f5.6 one of them can tend to be a little soft on focus..this is when I use centre focus and aim off the person in the centre of the group and recompose..i do not suppose using auto AF points will help right? I know going to a smaller aperture might help but lighting is already horrendous and ISO is bumped high up..what would you suggest will be the solution?
 

in my case never. its either center or i manually choose point to use.

camera cannot read your mind so have no idea what you intend to focus on.

yups its either centre, half press shutter then recompose or continuous AF focusing for action shots, or prefocused on one spot before the action occurs...
 

Sorry to dig up this thread but this is the question I'm having right now..If you are gonna shoot people in a group..do you choose the auto AF points mode (in my case 9 points) or select centre focus and aim off one person in the group and shoot?

If the people in the group is not of equi-distance..even on f5.6 one of them can tend to be a little soft on focus..this is when I use centre focus and aim off the person in the centre of the group and recompose..i do not suppose using auto AF points will help right? I know going to a smaller aperture might help but lighting is already horrendous and ISO is bumped high up..what would you suggest will be the solution?

Since the camera cannot guess what your intention is it would be best to select a suitable focus point. For the selection of aperture you can use the many DOF calculators online. You'll see that with a few steps more distance you can also achieve a deeper DOF, enough to have everybody in focus.
 

Since the camera cannot guess what your intention is it would be best to select a suitable focus point. For the selection of aperture you can use the many DOF calculators online. You'll see that with a few steps more distance you can also achieve a deeper DOF, enough to have everybody in focus.

Yeah that's my solution..i found that out when I take a 3/4 body shot and then zoom in for shoulder and head shot..without moving i realised the DOF is slightly different..but sometimes when space is tight i can't get away with it..and i'm already using 17mm on crop..

Another quick question..with groups where there are 3 rows..what I do is focus on someone in the centre row..is that the right thing? Or is there a better technique?
 

SmOcKxY said:
Yeah that's my solution..i found that out when I take a 3/4 body shot and then zoom in for shoulder and head shot..without moving i realised the DOF is slightly different..but sometimes when space is tight i can't get away with it..and i'm already using 17mm on crop..

Another quick question..with groups where there are 3 rows..what I do is focus on someone in the centre row..is that the right thing? Or is there a better technique?

Usually, i tried f/11 for a reasonable depth of field for groups.
Now, where do I focus? If you have more than one row of people deep, the old rule (which still stands true today I guess) is to focus on the eyes of the people in the front row. You have more depth behind than in front, so make sure you focus on them, and the rest should be okay.
 

Get everyone into the same plane of focus, if not you stand up on a chair and shoot down at them looking up at you. This makes everyone equidistant to your lens. You can either flash directly or bounce upwards.
 

Auto focusing using the center (weighted/non-weighted) focusing point. I don't rely on the camera to focus for me because I want to and need to know exactly where the focusing is to correct assess on what is in focus and what is out of focus. I also do shifting of focusing point for group photos to ensure what I need is in focus. Camera may at times focus on a different object from the one you needed.

For my nikon body, I separate my AF button and shutter release. My shutter release don't perform focusing. You might wanna try it too. It helps to retain my focus despite I keep on depress my shutter release halfway at times while trying to adjust my framing. It also allows me to ensure no changes to my focus point when I shift slightly.

I use to shoot with my 7D using centre focusing point as auto focusing point sometimes does not focus on the subject which i want, have to keep half press a few times until i got my subject on focus.

I want to maximise the potential of 7D since it has so many focusing point. But when is the right situation to use.

Just curious, in what situation do you use auto focusing point? example in landscape, Protrait, Flying birds etc.
 

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/thre...ocus-amp-Re-compose-Method?p=7448529&posted=1

TS might like to read abit from this thread, choosing your focus pt and re composing method.

I guess that TS use the mode "auto focusing points" is where the camera choose the points to focus on and adjust the focusing to suit. IMO its good for newbie who dont know what to do and how to choose where to focus. With alot of face detection technology cramp into the modern DSLR, if u r shooting friends it should give u "ok" result mostly.

personally i seldom use this mode, only use it when shooting blindly ie, when i raise my camera high above and shoot downwards at a crowd, as i cant tell where my focusing pt is, can only rely on the camera auto focusing point (AF-A for nikon) to choose for me.